For mirrorless cameras shooting 4K video: use a UHS-I U3 or UHS-II V60/V90 card with at least 90 MB/s write speed. For 8K or high-speed burst: CFexpress Type A or Type B. For most DSLRs and action cameras: a UHS-I U3 A2-rated microSD or SD card is sufficient. Check your camera's slot type first.
What's the difference between SD, microSD, and CFexpress?
SD cards are full-size (cameras, laptops). microSD is smaller (phones, drones, Nintendo Switch) and fits in SD adapters. CFexpress is a faster, pro-grade format — Type A and Type B have different physical sizes. Most consumer cameras use SD or microSD; professional cinema cameras use CFexpress.
For casual photography: 64–128GB. For video recording: 256GB+ (4K H.265 uses ~1GB/minute; 4K RAW uses 5–15GB/minute). For Nintendo Switch game storage: 256GB–512GB. For dashcams: 32–64GB with loop recording is typically sufficient.